Is Judgement Coming?

 

“The Lord waits so long in His graciousness

that people think He cannot judge…” Iain Duguid

  
  In his book about the Old Testament book of Daniel, Thriving in Babylon, Larry Osborne shares an illustration that caught my attention. He writes:
  “It was the end of a long day. We were all tired and hungry. My wife, kids, and I settled into the restaurant booth and looked over the menu. We placed our order and soon began to eat. Then it happened. The kids snapped. One took a couple of French fries off his brother’s plate. That merited a quick shove, which warranted a return push, a loud yelp, and flailing arms. In a matter of seconds, Coke was spilled everywhere. Then the third one started to cry. As a dad, I knew what I had to do. I jumped out of the booth and dragged them outside. I gave the boys a quick and controlled swat to the seat of learning and a stern lecture, and then I informed them that their behavior was unacceptable. They’d blown their opportunity to eat. There would be no more food tonight and maybe not in the morning either. The fighting stopped. We went back into the restaurant. I figured I’d done my dad duty…that was until the cops arrived. They pulled me aside, questioned me, and then they placed me under arrest. I spent the night in jail.
  You see, the kids weren’t mine. They were seated two booths over. Apparently, you’re not allowed to discipline someone else’s kids.”
  Osborne continues, “Now before you stop reading, wondering what kind of jerk I am. I need to let you know that this event never really happened. I can assure you if anything close to it had occurred, my wife would have killed me long before the police arrived. But it illustrates an important point: A father disciplines his own kids, not someone else’s.”
  He makes a powerful point; one the Church and Christians desperately need to hear. As believers, we see the growing debauchery in this world. Just when it seems that it can’t get any worse, it does. As I look at the spiritual decay of our culture, that warning by Isaiah comes to mind: “Woe to those who call evil good  and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (5:20).
  When we see evil growing, we forget that God the Father disciplines those who are His children first. His correction always begins with those He calls His own. It was true of ancient Israel and it’s true of the Church today. As 1 Peter 4:17 states, “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
  Beginning in Genesis we know that Israel was God’s chosen people. He made a covenant with them and gave them the Promised Land. But when they blew off His covenant and worshiped idols, God judged and punished them. God used some of the most wicked nations of that day, Assyria, and Babylon to take Israel into captivity. These were some of the evilest nations in all of history. Yet, God gave Israel another chance and brought them home to the Land but then they rejected His Son and crucified Jesus, so He punished His people again. Rome destroyed Jerusalem in 73 A.D.
  Can we truly expect the Lord Jesus to let His Bride, the Church, be unfaithful to Him? In modern times we’ve seen the Church in Germany judged by God. Theological liberalism was born in Germany. By the mid-1900’s the German Church had become the Nazi Church. One of the German Church’s leaders, Gerhard Hahn, wrote: “The cross of Christ and the swastika do not need to oppose each other, and must not do so, but rather they can and should stand together. One should not dominate the other, but rather each should maintain its own meaning and significance. The cross of Christ points toward heaven and admonishes us: Remember that you are Christian people, carried by the eternal love of the heavenly father, free through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, sanctified by the power of God’s spirit. The swastika, however, points to the world as a divine creation and admonishes us: Remember that you are German, born in German territory to parents of German blood, filled with the German spirit and essence, formed according to German nature…Remember that you are German Christian people and should become ever more whole German Christian people, and remain so!” Judgement began with Christ’s Church.
  Jesus has called His Church to obey Him, to live according to His blueprint as outlined in Scripture. But most churches in Western Civilization rarely open the Bible. It’s an icon with little relevance for what the Church believes or how it functions.
  The New Testament is clear, Christians are to be more than Sunday church attenders. New life in Christ is to revolutionize our lives from the inside out. Our lives are to be so different (not perfect) that we shouldn’t have to tell those who know us – at work, in our neighborhoods and community that we’re Christ-followers. Our marriages, families, work ethic, our care for others should distinguish us as it did those first believers that “we have been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). When we blow it, which we will because we’re sinners saved by grace, we don’t make excuses but own it, repenting and seeking anew to live in a way that honors our Lord.
  The Lord Jesus gave His Church a mission before He ascended into Heaven. We are to live as He commanded and share the gospel in our world, making new disciples. What a tragedy that the average gospel-preaching church is little more than a “religious social club” with little concern for the Christless and hopeless outside of its doors.
  While we can’t change the Church, we can change our church. We can commit as a church family that we’ll be transformed from the inside out, reaching out to our community with His love and message of grace.
  Judgement is coming. Like ancient Israel, Christ will judge His own first. By His grace let’s be faithful together as His church seeking to please Him!

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